Ball-pointed pen



July 17, 1951 MORRIS 2,560,810

. BALL-POINTED PEN Filed June 28, 1947 INVENTOR HY D. MORRIS ATTORNEYS Patented July 17, l951 g, UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE I .v 2,560,810 -r 7, I I I I BALL-POINTED PEN Hy D. Morris, Baldwin, N. Y., assignor to Universal Fountain Pen & Pencil 00., Inc., New .York, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application June 28, 1947, Serial No. 757,847

This invention relates to ball-pointed fountain pens. Pens of this type are equipped with a small ball rotatably mounted in a socket at the tip of the pen to which viscous ink is fed through a conduitv of small bore from an ink reservoir in the barrel of the pen. The writer causes the ball to'rotate in its socket and rollover the surface written :upon, thus transferring ink from the socket to' the paper. It'often happens, particularly after long periods disusathat ,a' bubble of air becomes lodged inthe'feed conduit, or the ink in: the socket becomes dry, or the normal flow of ink is otherwise arrested so that the pen will not write, or, in any event, will not write freelyand instantly. It is the object of the present invention to overcome this difficulty.

I attain this object broadlyby creating a slight increase in the air pressure within the ink reservoir, an increase which is great enough and which persists long enough to initiate flow of ink to the ball socket, but which is not so great nor so long. maintained as to extrude ink from the tip of the pen. In effecting this result I mount on the pen a small air compressor which communicates with the ink reservoir. Air is compressed by means of a thumb-actuated plunger slidably mounted within a cylinder from which the compressed air is forced past a check valve intothe ink reservoir. A small relief vent communicating with the upper end of the reservoir permits the slightly compressed air to escape slowly thus restoring atmospheric pressures to the reservoir before extrusion of the ink becomes possible. The brief increment of pressure is enough, however, to expel any air entrapped in the feed conduit and to rehabilitate the pen as a writing instrument.

I have illustrated a preferred embodiment of my invention in the accompanying drawing, the single figure of which is a longitudinal section through a ball-pointed pen equipped with my improvement.

The pen illustrated in this drawing comprises a steel tube or ink reservoir 1 terminating in a conical tip 2 in the end of which is a writing ball 3 rotatably mounted within a socket. Ink passes from the reservoir to the ball through a fine feed conduit. These parts, which constitute the elements of the pen proper, are mounted within a barrel or housing 4, terminating at its forward end in a conical sleeve 5. The parts just described constitute the usual parts of a ball-pointed pen and, of themselves, form no part of my invention.

Mounted on the upper end of the ink reservoir 1 1s a sleeve 6. A cylinder 1 is formed in the 5 Claims. (01. ran-42.4)

upper end of the sleeve, and in this cylinder a. reciprocable plunger or piston 8 is slidably mounted. A piston rod 9 extends upward from the piston and terminates in a push button l0 extending beyond the upper endof the barrel 4. An expansion coil spring ll encircles the piston rod 9 and, at its upper end, bearsagainst the lower face of the push button l9, while its lower end rests upon a washer I2 overlying theupper end of the sleeve 6. The piston 8 is provided with a ring l3preferab1y of rubber.

The lower end of the sleeve 6 is provided with a cylindrical bore [4 which terminates atits upper end in a conical valve seat l5and communicates through an orifice I6 with the lower .end of the cylinder. A check ball I! is normally held upon the valve seat by means of an expansion coil spring [8 interposed between the ball and a bushing I9 resting upon the upper end of the ink reservoir I. A relief vent 20' pierces the sleeve 6 between the ball I"! and the bushing 19 and communicates with the bore 14 and hence with the inkreservoir.

The parts just described constitute a small air compressor which operates as follows: whenever the iiow of ink to the writing ball 3 is interrupted for any reason so that the pen fails to write or writes with an inadequate flow of ink, the writer, using his thumb, depresses the push button It] against the resistance of spring II. This moves the piston 8 and compresses the air within the cylinder 1, causing it to pass through the orifice it, past the unseated check ball I1, and into the bore [4. The slightly increased air pressure thus quickly communicated to the ink reservoir is sufficient to initiate the flow of ink to the writing ball 3. Immediately, however, but more slowly, air starts to pass out through the relief vent 20, the spring 18 reseats the check ball l'l, pressure within the ink reservoir is brought back to atmospheric, and extrusion of the ink beyond the ball 3 is prevented. Meanwhile, the writer having removed his thumb from the push button, the spring I I has retracted the piston 8. This, of course, creates a diminished pressure within the cylinder 1, so that an immediate repetition of the compressing action would produce little or no results, there being within the cylinder very little air to compress. impossible for a careless user, by repeatedly pumping the compressor, to build up enough pressure within the ink reservoir to extrude the ink past the ball. As a Single stroke of the piston is enough to start the flow of ink, and as this flow will continue under normal conditions of use as Thus it is long as ink remains in the reservoir, use of the compressor need be availed of only infrequently. During the long intervening periods of idleness, air leaks past the ring [3 and fills the cylinder 1 in readiness for the next compression.

I have found that this simple air compressor is sufficient to overcome the most troublesome defect of most ball-pointed pens: that after days of disuse they refuse to write. At the same time my compressor is incapable of building up excessive pressures which would cause ink to flow past the ball and which, under certain conditions,- might even dislodge the ball itself.

The relative sizes of the various parts of the pen which have been found satisfactory are shown in the drawing although, of course, these may be varied as well as structural details. I have found that a relief vent .013 inch in diameter is satisfactory.

I claim:

1. In a ball-pointed pen having a ball, an ink reservoir and a feed conduit connecting them, the combination of means for forcing air at increased pressure into the ink reservoir and an air relief vent for simultaneously venting the air in the reservoir at a slower rate than that at which air is forced into the reservoir.

2. In a ball pointed pen having a ball, an ink reservoir and a feed conduit connecting them, the combination'of means for quickly forcing air at increased pressure into the ink reservoir and an air relief vent for simultaneously but slowly venting the air in the reservoir.

3. In a ball-pointed pen having a ball, an ink reservoir and a feed conduit connecting them, the combination of an air cylinder in communication with the ink reservoir, a piston in the cylinder, a push button on the piston operable by the writers thumb, a check valve preventing passage of air from the reservoir to the cylinder, and an air relief vent placing the reservoir in communication with atmospheric air and small enough in cross-section to vent the reservoir slowly.

4. In a ball-pointed pen having a ball, an ink reservoir and a feed conduit connecting them, the combination of an air cylinder in communication with the ink reservoir, 2. piston in the cylinder, a spring normally holding the piston at the outer end of the cylinder, 9. push button on the pistonoperable by the writer's thumb, a check valve preventing passage of air from the reservoir to the cylinder, and an air relief vent placing the reservoir in communication with atmospheric air and small enough in cross-section to vent the reservoir slowly.

5. A ball-pointed pen comprising a tip, a rotatable ball 'in the tip, an ink reservoir, an ink feed conduit between the reservoir and the ball, an air compressor in communication with the other end of the reservoir, a check valve between the reservoir and the air compressor, and an air relief vent placing the reservoir in communication with atmospheric air and small enough in cross-section to vent the reservoir slowly.

HY D. MORRIS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PA'I'ENTS Number Name Date 562,842 Minich i June 30, 1896 827,758 Smith Aug. '7, 1906 884,412 Oberdoerster Apr. 14, 1908 1,319,556 Baker Oct. 21, 1919 1,801,635 Moore Apr. 21, 1931 2,005,179 Chamberlain June 18, 1935 2,010,950 Hardesty Aug. 13, 1935 2,333,451 Sussman et al Nov. 2, 1943 2,427,068 Randolph Sept. 9,- 1947 2,432,061 Chesler Dec. 2, 1947 

